Interviews: Eiwa

In this new occassion we have had the opportunity to interview the Metalcore/Melodic Hardcore/Djent band Eiwa, from Ukraine. Check out this band and give them a like on their FACEBOOK PAGE.

1. Where did you get the idea for the band name, you planned it or came out just like that? 

At first and almost up to our first release the band name was supposed to be ‘Ennea’, which is Greek for ‘nine’. No meaning, just a simple word that can be remembered easily and sounds good. But then some of us had a bright idea to search the bands with the name ‘Ennea’ and we were surprised just how many bands with this name were there. And then we started to think about the new name and Vlad insisted that it should still be the word ‘nine’, but in some other language, and it was his idea for the word ‘Eiwa’ which is Hawaiian for ‘nine’. As we did not find any name that was more appealing, we decided to stick with ‘Eiwa’.

2. Why did you want to play this genre? 

It’s not like we decided that very deliberately. We just wanted to play metal music, so Vlad and Alex came up with the ideas for the songs and we just started to work on them. We do not consider genre to be something so important that we should not stray from. We are just trying to make music that we enjoy.

3. Did you know each other before the band was formed? 

Alex and Peter know each other from the kinder garden times, were classmates, and went to the same university. It was around this time they formed up their first band, and later Vlad joined as well. The band eventually split, but the guys came across each other years later and started searching for drummer and singer. After a while Tim joined the band. We did not know each other before, but back then when Vlad, Peter and Alex played together, they met Tim and his former band at some local gigs.

Nick, the singer, was the only person who no one from the band ever heard of.  

4. Each band member favourite band? 

Vlad: Erra

Tim: System of a Down

Alex: Alexisonfire

Nick: Faith No More

Peter: A Perfect Circle

5. Who or what inspires you to write songs? 

Just everyday life, books, movies, all that leaves some trace. Past experiences, feelings, and sometimes things that happen in the outside world to other people.

6. Where was your last gig? 

At the moment of this interview we haven’t played any single live gig as Eiwa yet. 

Our first priority was to release the EP “Witness”, and in the process of making it we have come to understanding that we do not want to just go out and play with no attention to quality of our performance. Now that we have released the EP, we feel we know, more or less, how exactly we want to perform, what exactly should be present in our live show and the overall level that we ourselves consider worthy of the audience’s time and money.

We could have joined any local show in our hometown Kharkiv and play 4-5 songs that were half-ready at a time, if we wanted. Instead, we decided to take our time, and now we can concentrate more on preparation for the live shows and send our EP to promoters of Ukrainian music fests. Time will tell whether some of them put us on the show or not.

7. Where would you like to act? 

We would love to act at every music fest we can get to. There are quite a few of them in summer here in Ukraine, and we are trying to get there. 

Of course it would be awesome to perform at Rock Am Ring, Reading or Download, but we are trying to keep it real and do not dream about bigger than Ukrainian events for now. Baby steps, you know?

8. Whom would you like to feature with? 

No certain preferences in this regard, any musicians that we like and whom we can work something nice out with will be great. Guest bass solo by Adam ‘Nolly’ Getgood will be super cool!

9. Whom not? 

Not sure if that’s a question we can answer. We do not have any blacklist, that is for sure.

10. Any of you has ever suffered from stage fright? Any tip for beginners on how to beat that? 

Vlad: We consider ourselves beginners for all intents and purposes.

Peter: Yeah, but all of us have experience in playing live shows. We are not first-timers on stage by any means. Regarding the tips to overcome stage fright, I just tried to get it out of my head and go with the flow. 

Tim: I would advise to drink water in between the songs, it helped me to stay calm in early days when I had stage fright.

11. What bands have inspired you the most? 

Peter: We were not inspired by any band as a whole ‘we want to do exactly what this band does’ thing. Instead, each one of us has his own inspirations aside from our favourite bands. For me these bands are Korn, Mudvayne, Protest The Hero and Karnivool.

Tim: Avenged Sevenfold, Rishloo and Trivium.

Alex: Thrice, Pain of Salvation, From First To Last, Bon Jovi.

Nick: as a singer, I was heavily influenced by Mike Patton, Corey Taylor, Chris Cornell and Ivan Moody. One of my recent inspirations is Jonathan Davis.

Vlad: it is a very long list. :)

12. What's the weirdest thing a fan has ever asked you for? 

Answering this question requires having actual fans. We cannot think of any things weirder than usual teenage local rockstar moments, such as signing fangirl’s belly, back in the days of our previous bands’ performances.

13. What do you think of your fans? 

We would want for them to exist. To our fans, if you are there somewhere, thank you for checking out our music and for appreciating it!

14. What do you think of our site?

We think that it’s a cool place on the internets that does good things both for musicians and the audience. Thank you for your awesome work!

15. Something add?

Thank you Breathing the Core! Shout-out to your readers and listeners, please check our music if you haven’t yet, and stay tuned for updates! We ain’t gonna stop on this one.